Marblehead resident’s appeal to replace windows denied

MARBLEHEAD – A saddened Charles Bridges appeared ready to use single-pane windows at his 17 Middle St. house Wednesday night, as the Old and Historic District Commission wanted him to.His appeal of the commission’s denial of energy-efficient windows in that house was denied by selectmen Wednesday night after a marathon 145-minute hearing, 3-2. Bridges needed four favorable board votes to overturn the commission decision, but only got two.He said a court appeal and an attempt to get Town Meeting to revise the commission’s window standards would take too much time – he is renovating the house so his daughters can live there.Selectman Harry Christensen made the motion to support Bridges’ appeal. He quoted George Page, the first of nine who spoke from the audience of about 50. Page wrote the commission bylaw in 1956.”There needs to be a marriage between energy issues and history,” Christensen said.Selectman William Woodfin, who tried to broker a compromise between Bridges and Commission Chairman Pat Patrick two months before the commission hearing, opposed the appeal. He mentioned another speaker, Sally Sands, to bolster his claim that current owners are only “stewards” of historic tradition.Selectman James Nye voted in favor of the appeal but Selectman Judy Jacobi and Selectmen Chairman Jackie Belf-Becker voted against it. In the end selectmen could only favor the appeal if they thought the commission decided arbitrarily and in a neighborhood where homes from different centuries stand side by side that was hard to prove.Before the hearing began, Bridges attempted to limit the role of Assistant Town Counsel Lisa Mead, stating that she does not live in Marblehead or in an historic district and does not serve on the commission.Chairman Belf-Becker pointed out to Bridges that his questions revolved around recusal, and that rests with the person asked to recuse themselves. “If you think that is out of order,” Woodfin said, “perhaps we should ? ask our own counsel, because I don’t think it is out of order.”Bridges also raised questions about Patrick’s business, Old Town Repair, which repairs, restores and rebuilds historic windows but does not replace them.Woodfin demanded to know if Bridges had any hard evidence to show that Patrick was enriching himself through his volunteer work and accused him of using “innuendo.”Assistant Town Counsel Mead said that Patrick has filed a disclosure form about his business with the town clerk, and he has never worked on the home of anyone who has appeared before the commission.